LORD Mounts Protect Aircraft Instruments
Seemingly unrelated events taking place in American society were destined to have a remarkable impact upon the future of LORD Manufacturing Company, as it was then called. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh made his historic solo flight to Paris. This event, while significant in its own right, reflected on a larger scale the growing interest in aviation in America. The commercial as well as military possibilities of air travel were beginning to be appreciated, and Lindbergh’s flight as well as other aviation experiments revealed the serious limitations in aircraft equipment. Navigation instruments subjected to the stresses of engine vibration were often inaccurate and had a short life.(1)
National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
(SI Neg. No. 91-17326)
Channeling energies and acquired knowledge into technology to meet this new challenge, LORD in 1932 developed and offered to the aircraft industry a newly designed mounting system for use in the installation of aircraft instrument panels. This was quickly accepted by the industry, and the useful life of navigational equipment so mounted was lengthened from 30 hours to over 3,000 hours.(1)
These LORD mounts were used by Lindbergh when in the early 1930s he and his wife Anne made their historic flights in the Lockheed Sirius.(1) The Lockheed Sirius was a low-wing monoplane, powered by a 680-hp Wright Cyclone. Their route took them from North Haven, Maine, to Canada; Alaska; Siberia and over the Kurile Islands to Japan. They flew on to China where they landed on Lotus Lake near Nanking on September 19.(2)
Typical Instrument Panel Mounts of the Type Used by Charles Lindbergh
Their next venture in the Sirius came as a result of interest in the development of commercial air transport. Lindbergh, Pan Am’s technical adviser, took off from New York on July 9, again accompanied by his wife, who would serve as copilot and radio operator. A Sperry artificial horizon and a directional gyro had been added to the instrument panel since the previous flight, and a new Wright Cyclone SR1820-F2 engine of 710 horsepower was installed. From New York, the Lindberghs flew up the eastern border of Canada to Hopedale, Labrador, and on to Godthaab, Greenland. After crisscrossing Greenland to Baffin Island and back, and then on to Iceland, the Lindberghs proceeded to the major cities of Europe and as far east as Moscow, down the west coast of Africa, and across the South Atlantic to South America, where they flew down the Amazon, and then north through Trinidad and Barbados and back to the United States. They returned to New York on December 19, having traveled 30,000 miles to four continents and twenty-one countries. The information gained from the trip proved invaluable in planning commercial air transport routes for the North and South Atlantic.(2)
By early 1933, the new LORD mount instrument panel installation became standard equipment on all U.S. commercial airplanes. Installation on U.S. military aircraft followed immediately. In fact, standard LORD mounts gained worldwide acceptance for aircraft instrument panels through the impetus of the Sperry Gyroscope Company to provide the assurance of long life for its aircraft navigational instruments.(1)
Sources:
- Thomas LORD, Donald M. Alstadt, Frank C. Heath; “LORD Corporation, A Story of Innovation, Invention and Learning,” The Newcomen Society in North America, May 1973, Pg. 12.
- Lockheed 8 Sirius “Tingmissartoq,” National Air and Space Museum